Experience the best of Nur-Sultan

Astana stands on the Ishim River in the middle of the Kazakh steppe, a flat, wind-swept landscape that brings it very cold winters. It replaced Almaty as the capital in 1997, and the city has grown quickly since, with government buildings and towers designed by architects from around the world. The Baiterek, a tall tower topped by a golden sphere, is its emblem, and the city's planned layout crosses the river.

Norman Foster designed two of its landmarks: the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, a glass pyramid, and Khan Shatyr, a huge tent-shaped transparent structure with shops and an indoor beach. The Hazrat Sultan Mosque is among the largest in Central Asia, and the Nur Alem sphere, built for the 2017 Expo, is a glass globe with a museum of energy. The embankment along the Ishim is a promenade, and the lakes and rocky hills of Burabay lie a few hours to the north-west.

Kazakh hospitality centres on tea and beshbarmak, boiled meat served over flat noodles, and kazy, horse-meat sausage, baursak fried dough and kumys, fermented mare's milk, are traditional too. Winters are long and freezing, summers short and hot, and the mildest months run from May to September.